Mick Gatto defamation trial against ABC begins and court hears Nicola Gobbo in his corner

The ABC defamed Mick Gatto in a report that claimed he threatened to kill Nicola Gobbo, Victorian Supreme Court told.

‘The ABC crossed a line calling me murderer, hitman, one of the most violent men in Australia’: Mick Gatto leaves his lawyer’s office in Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis

Lawyer X — Nicola Gobbo — has offered to give evidence in support of Melbourne identity Mick Gatto over an ABC article alleging that he threatened to kill her, a court has heard.

Mr Gatto is suing the ABC for defamation over the February 2019 article, which he claimed had alleged he threatened to kill Ms Gobbo and was responsible for the gangland execution of Victor Peirce and murder of fruit and vegetable wholesaler Frank ­Benvenuto.

Mr Gatto told the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday that the ABC relied on allegations made by an uncredible source. “Unfortunately when these ­people roll over, they will say whatever they’re told to say, and do whatever they’re told to do,” he said.

Peirce was a bodyguard for Benvenuto who was shot dead in 2000.

Mr Gatto was a suspect in the killing of Peirce and in his writ he claims the article had imputations that he lured Benvenuto to his death.

On Wednesday, Mr Gatto said he was family friends with Ben­venuto and couldn’t believe the allegations he was involved in the killing. “[It’s] ludicrous, all these allegations made me laugh … of course it upset me,” he said.

Mr Gatto said he wasn’t upset to learn Ms Gobbo was a police informant, adding that Victoria Police and the government would have more reason to harm her: “She was embarrassing them.”

He said no criminal would have harmed her because they knew she was an informant.

“[The police] would love to get me, I guess,” Mr Gatto said.

“At the end of the day, I’m not much worried about them. They can only set me up, which they have tried to do a number of times.

“It’s funny you say that because Nicola Gobbo’s lawyers rang up yesterday [regarding the trial and article] and said she’s very happy to give evidence to the contrary.”

Mr Gatto also told the court there was no alleged criminal ­organisation called the “Carlton Crew”, of which he is an alleged member.

Instead, he told the court, it was a group of friends who met once or twice a month.

Mr Gatto described himself as a “little bloke from the western suburbs, a little hothead”, and said he was sick of being lied about with claims of false criminal conduct impacting his family.

“It makes me feel very wild to be honest, and there’s nothing I can do about it except what I am doing now,” he said.

“This is just terrible, what they’ve said about me, and we decided as a family that we were going to go all the way with it.”

Mr Gatto said he had been in the media previously but the ABC had “crossed a line” with their ­article.

“They crossed a line calling me murderer, hitman, one of the most violent men in Australia … what gives them the right to tell lies, to make something up,” he said.

Mr Gatto was acquitted in 2005 of murdering Andrew Veniamin and told the court on Wednesday that it had been self-defence.

He said that he had criminal convictions but was not a violent man and the ABC had given him “no option” but to take legal ­action.

“The last 30 years I have turned my life around, I have tried to do the right thing. I am not a bad person,” he said.

Mr Gatto said he was seeking the maximum payout from the ABC and an apology, with his main objective to stop the national broadcaster from “spreading lies about me”.

“I’m hoping to cause them as much grief as they’ve caused me.”

The trial before judge Andrew Keogh continues.